Of course. It was one of the few original and worthwhile maps that doom2 had in it. There was no more suspense in that game than walking those ledges for the first time.

Walking those ledges was the most annoying thing in the entire game imho - I play Doom to kill monsters and to try and survive their surprise attacks, not learn to balance on narrow ledges like some tightrope walker.

It's not a bad level, though I've had enough of deep-drop levels now. I wrote a long thing on this somewhere else, I'm sure...

It's certainly not the owrst Doom 2 level IMHO, though it was always pretty hard to imagine that level existing on Earth. And why would two Archviles lock themselves in a cage high up above the ground?

But no, The Catacombs and The Focus would have to be worse, both short, lame and braindead architecturally.

But no, The Catacombs and The Focus would have to be worse, both short, lame and braindead architecturally.

Oh yeah, they have lame architecture all right, but at least I found The Catacombs rather fun to play. But I agree wholeheartedly on The Focus - lame architecture, boring level, ridiculously cheesy music (This thing should've been in one of the Commander Keen games instead of blood spattered Doom 2).

said:
It's certainly not the owrst Doom 2 level IMHO, though it was always pretty hard to imagine that level existing on Earth.

MAP24 wasn't on Earth anymore. Earth ended with MAP20.

No it didn't. Everything up to 28 was Earth.

Once again, here's the text coming up after Map20:

YOU ARE AT THE CORRUPT HEART OF THE CITY,
SURROUNDED BY THE CORPSES OF YOUR ENEMIES.YOU SEE NO WAY TO DESTROY THE CREATURES'
ENTRYWAY ON THIS SIDE, SO YOU CLENCH YOUR
TEETH AND PLUNGE THROUGH IT.

THERE MUST BE A WAY TO CLOSE IT ON THE
OTHER SIDE. WHAT DO YOU CARE IF YOU'VE
GOT TO GO THROUGH HELL TO GET TO IT?

If anything I thought this means that you travel back to hell. And then there's also the sky change.

May I ask what makes you say the earth ends on MAP28 only?

A possible explanation could be that after MAP20 the reality could be somewhat a mixture between earth and hell (resembling the storyline of MK3). That could explain the earthly architecture of some of the latter levels.

I think that Lüt must be joking. I'd be surprised if he turned out to be so stupid that he'd believe that Hell is only the last two levels before the Icon.
And I doubt that moderators in general are stupid...

A possible explanation could be that after MAP20 the reality could be somewhat a mixture between earth and hell (resembling the storyline of MK3). That could explain the earthly architecture of some of the latter levels.

That's the point. Supposedly while Doomguy was battling on the earth spaceports and cities the hellspawn were busy incorporating the human technology they saw into their own design.

The focus is decent, it has pretty good gameplay, not the best looks though. It's really fun and hard on nightmare skill. They surely aren't the worst levels in doom2. Here are some that are worse imo:
map30, map21, map31, map06, map01, map07.
(Map01 and map07 are really deathmatch levels with some monsters added.)

I've always wondered why there are so few hellish levels in doom2, only map28 and to some extent map29 look really hellish... odd.

The focus is decent, it has pretty good gameplay, not the best looks though. It's really fun and hard on nightmare skill. They surely aren't the worst levels in doom2. Here are some that are worse imo:
map30, map21, map31, map06, map01, map07.
(Map01 and map07 are really deathmatch levels with some monsters added.)

I've always wondered why there are so few hellish levels in doom2, only map28 and to some extent map29 look really hellish... odd.

Can't agree with 01, 07 and 30. It's cool for first and last levels to be short and simple. As for MAP07, it performs its primary function of introducing the two fearsome monsters Fatso and Babyspider pretty well.

You're right that 01 and 07 were designed in a way to be cool deathmatch levels. MAP30 could be a fine deathmatch level too, with some more weapons. Out in the open.